Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman still has not mastered the most underrated part of being a college football coach at a blue-blood school: Beat the teams you’re supposed to beat.
It’s not always easy. Just ask No. 7 Oregon and No. 8 Penn State.
Freeman can now add Saturday’s stunning home loss to 28-point underdog Northern Illinois to a resume that already includes being upset at home by Marshall and a Stanford team that was in the midst of a 3-9 season back in 2022.
“We’ve been here before,” Freeman told reporters.
Sort of. This one is far worse.
This is Year 3 of Freeman leading the Fighting Irish. He’s still a young coach at 38 years old, but inexperience isn’t an excuse anymore. Neither for Freeman nor his team.
“It’s our job as coaches to make sure these guys are ready to go. I’ve always said performance is a reflection of preparation,” he said.
Notre Dame came in ranked fifth, coming off a quality road win over Texas A&M and looking like a team with maybe the most manageable path to the College Football Playoff in the country — starting with a Mid-American Conference team at home.
The Fighting Irish scored a touchdown the first time they touched the ball and then scored only one more time the rest of the day, a third-quarter hurdling TD run by Jeremiyah Love to go up 14-13.
It looked like it was going to be enough for a while, but new Notre Dame transfer quarterback Riley Leonard and the offense could never add on. When Leonard threw a ghastly, under-thrown interception that set up the Huskies at midfield with about six minutes left, you could almost feel the dread setting in under Touchdown Jesus.
Even with the aid of a couple of pretty clear officiating mistakes in the final minute — a mis-spotted ball cost NIU a first down and then officials forgot to run the clock after a measurement — the Irish couldn’t pull it out in the end.
Northern Illinois outgained Notre Dame by 102 yards, was better on third down and held the ball for almost 10 more minutes.
But how?
Freeman was hired with much enthusiasm when Brian Kelly bolted for LSU. Yes, he was a first-time head coach, but he appeared to be the antithesis of Kelly in all the best ways.
He connected with players and fans in a way Kelly never did. He was present, passionate and charismatic.
Over 12 years, Kelly won more games than any coach in Notre Dame’s storied history, but was never beloved in South Bend.
It took Kelly several years to figure out the formula for success at Notre Dame and he took plenty of these types of losses early to the likes of Tulsa, Navy and South Florida.
It clicked for Kelly in 2017 and the Irish reeled off seven straight 10-win seasons and two four-team playoff appearances. The knock on Kelly became that his teams couldn’t win the biggest games or hang with the very best teams.
But he cleaned up in the games he was supposed to win and the Irish fans could not help but appreciate him.
It’s not the sexiest trait in a college football coach, but avoiding being the biggest story of the weekend by losing to a huge underdog keeps the peace.
According to Fox Sports‘ Chris Fallica, there have been 28 losses by a home favorite of at least 16 points in college football since 2022. Freeman’s teams now account for three of them.
Year 3 is historically a big one for Notre Dame coaches, filled with national titles and championship game appearances.
By all accounts this looked like Freeman’s highest-ceiling team — though maybe we underrated the problems an entirely rebuilt offensive line would present. Still, that can’t get exposed against a MAC team in the home opener.
“We’re 1-1. We have to accept that fact. But we have a long season ahead of us,” safety Xavier Watts told reporters.
He’s right. The 12-team College Football Playoff changes everything this year, but Notre Dame was already in danger of facing intense scrutiny from the selection committee for a schedule that is less than loaded.
Maybe that changes. Louisville is ranked No. 22. No. 13 USC is off to a good start after beating Kelly’s LSU team. Feels like a stretch.
“We’ve got to own this. Every coach. Every person in here. We all have to own this,” Freeman said.
Oh, you most definitely will.
Oregon found itself in a tight game in the fourth quarter for the second straight week, this time facing serious pressure from maybe the best running back in the country.
Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty scored three more touchdowns, including a 70-yarder, to give him nine in two games. The Ducks survived on the strength of two special teams TDs and a short walk-off field goal.
Next up, Oregon is part of fascinating doubleheader in the Pacific Northwest. The Ducks go to Oregon State in the first game of the rivalry post-Pac-12 collapse.
In Seattle, Washington State and Washington play for the Apple Cup. All four have not yet lost.
You could say No. 3 Texas’ blowout at No. 10 Michigan was settled in the first half, but in reality it was probably decided last December when the Wolverines sat out the transfer portal.
To be fair, Michigan was on its way to winning a national title with a head coach in Jim Harbaugh, who anybody with internet knew was very likely heading back to NFL.
Not exactly an ideal way to start the process of reconstructing a roster that was about to send more than a dozen players into the NFL.
Still, in this era of college football free agency it’s difficult to believe new Michigan coach Sherrone Moore went into a season with this quarterback situation.
Davis Warren is a great story, a cancer survivor who is better than a typical walk-on, but right now he doesn’t look like a player who should be starting for a team considered a playoff contender.
Alex Orji seemed like the heir apparent to first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy, despite having only thrown six career passes during his first two seasons at Michigan. If nothing else, the 6-foot-3, 235-pound Texan would bring a running threat to the Wolverines’ offense. But he was beaten out by Warren, who threw two interceptions against Texas and had just 73 yards passing through three quarters.
A transfer quarterback is no sure thing, as Kentucky and Florida State are finding out. But how would Ohio State transfer Kyle McCord (eight touchdown passes in two games for Syracuse ) have looked in a maize and blue winged helmet this year?
How about something more along the lines of a developmental player? Alabama transfer Eli Holstein has six touchdown passes and two 300-yard passing games in leading Pitt to a 2-0 start. Texas transfer Maalik Murphy has Duke 2-0, with five touchdown passes.
Of course, this isn’t just a quarterback issue for Michigan’s offense. It is the most-glaring issue.
“I never really thought about the growing pains, more so just what can we do to get better,” Moore said. “We knew we were a new team. We never try to rest on our laurels that we won the national championship last year.”
There are currently three Southeastern Conference teams in the top four of the AP rankings: No. 1 Georgia, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Alabama. No. 14 Tennessee might be closer to that group than its ranking suggests. The Volunteers overwhelmed No. 24 NC State. … Freeman could use some advice from Penn State coach James Franklin. The eighth-ranked Nittany Lions allowed 24 points and 289 yards and trailed Bowling Green (another MAC team) in the first half before fixing whatever was wrong at half time and winning a one-score game. Surely, Penn State fans were not thrilled but almost losing is still winning so Happy Valley is better place to be this weekend than South Bend. … Big 12 contenders No. 16 Oklahoma State and No. 17 Kansas State both needed second-half rallies to win tough nonconference games. The Cowboys allowed 648 yards to Taylen Green (another pretty good looking transfer quarterback) and Arkansas but took advantage of a boat load of Razorbacks mistakes to win in double overtime…. The Wildcats needed a late scoop-and-score, and benefited from a offensive pass interference penalty on Tulane, to get out of New Orleans unbeaten. … A couple of ranked teams were not so fortunate against unranked teams: Iowa State rallied to beat No. 21 Iowa with a 54-yard field goal from redshirt freshman kicker Kyle Konrady in the closing seconds. Illinois beat No. 19 Kansas for its first victory against a ranked nonconference opponent since 2019. … No. 11 Utah was rolling against Baylor before sixth-year QB Cam Rising went out with a hand injury. The Utes closed out the victory and said after that Rising’s injury wasn’t serious. It best not be considering how Utah’s offense operates without him. … When UAB made the unusual and splashy hire of former Super Bowl champion Trent Dilfer, who was coaching a high school team in Tennessee, the school passed over interim coach Bryant Vincent. Louisiana-Monroe hired Vincent this offseason and on Saturday ULM beat UAB 32-6. .. No. 25 Clemson played like a team that was tired of hearing how it shouldn’t be taken seriously as a national contender anymore, dropping 35 in the first quarter on Appalachian State.
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Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP
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